Arthur Avalon - Shakti and Shakta

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'Fire' which is the object of experience or 'This' (Idam), the objective side of
experience. The 'This' here is nothing but a mass of Shiva's own illuminating
rays. These are reflected in Himself as Shakti, who, in the Kamakalavilasa, is
called the 'Pure Mirror' of Shiva. The Self sees the Self, the rays being
thrown back on their source. The 'This' is the germ of what we call
'Otherness,' but here the 'Other' is and is known as the Self. The relation
and fusion of these two Points, White and Red, is called the Mixed Point or
'Sun'. These are the three Supreme Lights. A = Shiva, Ha = Shakti, which
united spell 'Aham' or 'I'. This 'Sun' is thus the state of full 'I-ness'
(Purnaham-bhava). This is the Point into which the World at dissolution
lapses, and from which in due time it comes forth again. In the latter case it
is the Lord-Consciousness as the Supreme 'I' and Power about to create. For
this reason Bindu is called a condensed or massive form of Shakti. It is the
tense state of Power immediately prior to its first actualization. That form of
Shakti, again by which the actualization takes place is Maya; and this is the
Line round the Point. As coiled round the Point, it is the Supreme Serpent-
Power (Mahakundalini) encircling the Shiva-Linga. From out of this Power
comes the whisper to enjoy, in worlds of form, as the memory of past
universes arises therein. Shakti then 'sees'. Shakti opens Her eyes as She
reawakens from the Cosmic Sleep (Nimesha), which is dissolution. The Line
is at first coiled and one with the Point, for Power is then at rest. Creation is
movement, an uncoiling of Maya-Shakti. Hence is the world called Jagat,
which means 'what moves'. The nature of this Power is circular or spiraline;
hence the roundness and 'curvature' of things of which we now hear.
Nothing moves in a really straight line. Hence again the universe is also
called a spheroid (Brahmanda). The gross worlds are circular universal
movements in space, in which, is the Ether (Akasha), Consciousness, as the
Full (Purna), is never dichotomized, but the finite centers which arise in it,
are so. The Point, or Bindu, then divides into three, in various ways, the chief
of which is Knower, Knowing and Known, which constitute the duality of the
world-experience by Mind of Matter.
Unsurpassed for its profound analysis is the account of the thirty-six Tattvas
or stages of Cosmic Evolution (accepted by both Shaivas and Shaktas) given
by the Northern Shaiva School of the Agama, which flourished after the date
which Western Orientalists assign to Shamkaracarya, and which was